[DechanDawa]

I will admit that I am severely depressed and I think I need a spiritual practice this holiday season.

I am going to try to do one Secret Santa thing daily. It is gonna be really hard.

Today's Secret Santa gift is this. Even though the elephant-footed stomper person upstairs is stomping around I am not going to yell at the ceiling, or hit the ceiling with a broom stick, or my latest...bounce a ball off the ceiling.

My Secret Santa gift for the day is to let the stomper happily and freely stomp.

Do you want to join me in doing a Secret Santa? If so...what is yours today?

neat idea.

I hope this works for you

I did always think secret santa was like.. you buy someone a gift but they don't know that it's from you

at least when we were at school that's what we were taughtt it was

[DechanDawa]

Originally Posted by raging vortex

I did always think secret santa was like.. you buy someone a gift but they don't know that it's from you

at least when we were at school that's what we were taughtt it was

Of course. But this is Secret Santa with a twist. A gift from the heart.

Originally Posted by DechanDawa

Of course. But this is Secret Santa with a twist. A gift from the heart.

I imagine you're a very nice/ thoughtful person

always a nice trait

what you doing today

[DechanDawa]

Today I am going to park far from the entrance to my building so another person can park in one of the (coveted) spaces closer to the door.

[DechanDawa]

Originally Posted by raging vortex

what you doing today

Buying you socks.

[DechanDawa]

Originally Posted by raging vortex

I imagine you're a very nice/ thoughtful person

always a nice trait

Actually not so much. A very nice, thoughtful person would not have to think up something stupid like Secret Santa Once a Day in order to practice kindness. At the moment I have a major dislike of humanity, and am not particularly nice. It used to be a trait of mind but it flew the coop. No, I am one step away from meanie witchy total *****y so I need to think up niceness practices.

I like this thought of heartfelt Secret Santa. I can't recall a single action I've done for someone recently. So, today, I will not be that elephant (though there is no-one living beneath me) I would like to practice a quiet life-style for the neighbors, critters and creatures surrounding my living space. Also, I could be more considerate parking in the center of one space, rather than too far over to one side

[DechanDawa]

Originally Posted by AB2371

I like this thought of heartfelt Secret Santa. I can't recall a single action I've done for someone recently. So, today, I will not be that elephant (though there is no-one living beneath me) I would like to practice a quiet life-style for the neighbors, critters and creatures surrounding my living space. Also, I could be more considerate parking in the center of one space, rather than too far over to one side

Ah, that's nice niceness!

[DechanDawa]

Since coming up with this idea...I actually find it difficult to think of "secret" nice things to do.

One time I folded hundreds of origami cranes and left them all over town...like on park benches and stuff.

I made a new friend during that time and he invited me over to his house. On his mantle were a bunch of my origami cranes.

I asked him, "Where did you get those?"

He laughed and said, "It is strange and kind of magical. One windy day they were just floating down the street...a whole flock of them...and so I rescued them."

I smiled a secret smile. I never told him.

Maybe I will fold some origami cranes and leave them around town tomorrow.

[DechanDawa]

I forgot to do this for a couple of days. But I have been generally parking in a way to let others have the more convenient spaces. And I have been trying to treat store salespeople as "humans" and not just "workers" if that makes sense. I was going to fold little origami birds and secretly leave them around...but I don't seem to have patience for crafts. It is kind of weird how hard it is to come up with secret random acts of kindness! I have a purple scarf I am going to wrap around a tree. I saw this on Pinterest...where people wrap things in natural with homemade items.

[DechanDawa]

Despite a downward dip in mood managed to create about two dozen origami paper cranes with special origami paper. Am going to leave them here and there...at the UPS store...front desk where property management staff sits...little grocery store...bookshop. Will just inconspicuously leave them perched here and there. Will leave one for mailman with some chocolate...

Sometimes we don't have to be cheerful in order to do a Secret Santa.

I have also been parking at the edge of lots so that others can park closer to store entrances.


It's not much but all I can do. Am sending out all my Christmas boxes today and tomorrow will send out some Christmas cards. Just a blah holiday.

[saidso]

Originally Posted by DechanDawa

Buying you socks.

thanks that made me lol this dark morning!!!
perhaps I can secret santa something... I was looking in charity shops for Xmas presents this morning because I figure is better to give money to poor people than to commerce at Xmas. Then I felt embarrassed because people x-pect "real" presents.
Us

[saidso]

Originally Posted by DechanDawa

Actually not so much. A very nice, thoughtful person would not have to think up something stupid like Secret Santa Once a Day in order to practice kindness. At the moment I have a major dislike of humanity, and am not particularly nice. It used to be a trait of mind but it flew the coop. No, I am one step away from meanie witchy total *****y so I need to think up niceness practices.

GIGGLE!!! feeling meanie witchy 98% myself, but hanging in peacefully with the 2%ers.

[DechanDawa]

Originally Posted by saidso

thanks that made me lol this dark morning!!!
perhaps I can secret santa something... I was looking in charity shops for Xmas presents this morning because I figure is better to give money to poor people than to commerce at Xmas. Then I felt embarrassed because people x-pect "real" presents.
Us

Well that's just sad. Some of my best gifts have been hand made or from charity shops. But maybe I am the weird one.

[DechanDawa]

Originally Posted by saidso

GIGGLE!!! feeling meanie witchy 98% myself, but hanging in peacefully with the 2%ers.

Today just feel sad. Not witchy. There's too much witchiness already in the world.

[DechanDawa]

For drivers who text while driving...a good Secret Santa would be to just not do it.

I saw on the news where some agency collected videos of 11,000 people texting while driving. Jeez, no wonder I am paranoid while driving...every time I look over to the next lane someone is texting.

I have never texted while driving. I mean do you really want to take your eyes off the road? Where I live we have quite a lot of wildlife so...it is crazy. Ever see a maimed deer limping off the side of the road -- its beautiful coat filled with blood? I have. Called Animal Control. They said they do nothing...the deer are left to heal or die a long, painful death. So cruel.

[saidso]

Do you think that you could take a very deep breath, or two, or two hundred breaths.... and secret santa something to yourself today?

Sometimes the real challenge for me is to do one small positive action for my own self. Even just the first step towards that committed action is worth celebrating.

Just my two cents this grey day.

I enjoy your sense of humour!!!

[DechanDawa]

Originally Posted by saidso

Do you think that you could take a very deep breath, or two, or two hundred breaths.... and secret santa something to yourself today?

Sometimes the real challenge for me is to do one small positive action for my own self. Even just the first step towards that committed action is worth celebrating.

Just my two cents this grey day.

I enjoy your sense of humour!!!

Thank you. That is really what I needed to hear. I think something active maybe nothing to do with the holidays. Like go to the library, or explore someplace new for coffee or a new neighborhood to take a walk. I am experiencing my mood dropping...and even that kind of makes me feel bad. Yes, self-care today is a very good tip. My sense of humor? I thought I completely lost it...I am very impressed you sniffed it out.

[saidso]

You've inspired me to do the same. Have been teetering between misery and doing what I know I need to do for myself and I'm gonna Do It Right Now. So cool.

[DechanDawa]

Originally Posted by saidso

You've inspired me to do the same. Have been teetering between misery and doing what I know I need to do for myself and I'm gonna Do It Right Now. So cool.

I hope you do something nice. I really appreciate you took the time to remind me to chill out a bit. I absolutely was starting to feel extremely agitated. You caught me just in time. I think I am going to go to Michael's (crafts store) this afternoon...and buy supplies to make something inspired by the Winter Solstice. Tonight I'll watch a movie and craft. I haven't done that in ages but it really settles my mind to work with my hands. OMG I HAVE A PLAN!

[saidso]

Wow that sounds cool re. winter solstice!! I would love to see a photo. I was looking at Winter Solstice stuff too: am thinking about how much I would like a winter festival that isn't commercialised: thinking inside my head and potentially thinking out loud to other people. The charity shop that I went into today was Salvation Army - it's very old-fashioned, religious charity but unlike modern commercialised charities they have a very sincere vibe of human kindness, gentleness with handicapped staff, teasing each other. And stuff is cheaper, not same prices as online like most charity stores. They were talking about organising Xmas dinner for poor older people, and I wanted to volunteer because there was something so real Xmassy about the vibe. But I'm not Christian and religious stuff makes me feel very conflicted. I had a joke with one of the workers there.

Which is to say that I'm actively seeking non-consumerist modes of life, and finding connections about that in different places, but so far that hasn't extended to changing my festivities for the Xmas season.

I do think that being accountable about my self-care is key to moving forward, but I've just come back from two and a half months of hard work and I've lapsed into laziness. I suddenly flashed just then that I would stroke a pet cat more often than I am accountable to care for myself.

I haven't drunk any alcohol this winter.

I need to do some crafting too, but haven't settled back well enough to get in the mood for it. It's very calming when I can push myself into that mode.

Wishing you happy crafting and happy movie!!! What movie did you see?

Best,

Us

[saidso]

How'd it go? This morning was sunny! For most of the year I make myself like the weather whatever it is doing but must be said in this darkest month a morning's sunshine makes a difference.

I decided on a rather basic solstice celebration, which is shining up my kitchen. I shine it up for visitors every month or so, but since I came back here the cleaning has been basic. I looked around it and thought "buy flowers? no." A memory came of how other cultures super-clean their houses for new year, and I can't be bothered to do all that, but yes kitchen, stove, surfaces and floor.

Loneliness is hard this time of year. Seems like friends with families forget me in all the frantic shopping, wrapping and cooking. They pop up again half-way through January. They do that mid-summer also, and both times I feel it.

It's loneliness by comparison to all the franticness. At other seasons being alone and quiet is a luxury experience.

Well, I am here and wish you well this morning! I got one Happy Solstice good wishes today, which shows that I'm not the only one feeling resistant to santa.

I have a beautiful DVD that I bought on my travels called "Stormy Weather". It's about a French psychotherapist and an Icelandic woman with mental health problems. The photography of Iceland is startling, and there is a neutral ending which I like where the Icelandic woman is back in her community in the same situation as when she became ill, but we understand more deeply what is happening for both of them.

Saidso